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Topic: Protein Coagulation (Read 7272 times)

I would only add that the stuff will slow down a lauter to a trickle sometimes by accumulating on top of the grain bed. It can be overcome by the occasional raking.

I never thought about it being more pronounced with decoctoin mashing but I can see how it would be. I do think a good protein break in the kettle will catch it all whether you get some on the MLT or not.

I think what Kai said is so true and it does not matter where you leave it behind.Reason I say that is because I put cold break and all into my primary and afterthe ferment, it gets left in the bottom of the primary, what my racking technique misses settles out to the bottom in secondary. My beers have been nice and clearwith no chill haze or haze at all...

Well just about everybody puts cold break into the fermentor as it takes a substantial amount of time and near freezing temperatures to precipitate it at all. Whirlpool chillers may leave behind some but if you are just chilling to ale pitching temp, really only a small portion.

When it comes to hot break I can't speak for Kai but I think leaving it behind in the kettle is preferable to racking it to the fermentor.

Well just about everybody puts cold break into the fermentor as it takes a substantial amount of time and near freezing temperatures to precipitate it at all. Whirlpool chillers may leave behind some but if you are just chilling to ale pitching temp, really only a small portion. When it comes to hot break I can't speak for Kai but I think leaving it behind in the kettle is preferable to racking it to the fermentor.

Clarification, I have a hop bag suspended in my BK. When boil is finished, I put in the IC and cool to temps thatwill not affect my plastic bucket, Then I dump the Entire contents of the BK into the plastic bucket reinsert theIC coil because of it's shape I get better wert to copper contact in the bucket. Then I finish cooling to pitch temps,hit it with the O2 and pitch.

Can you remove enough hot break by just putting the beer from your kettle through a small-mesh sanitized kitchen strainer before it enters your fermenter, or does this let too much of the smaller particles through?

Can you remove enough hot break by just putting the beer from your kettle through a small-mesh sanitized kitchen strainer before it enters your fermenter, or does this let too much of the smaller particles through?

It depends. If you use whole hops, they can act as a filter to remove much of the break material.I'm pretty sure I don't know how much "enough" is, though. What are you trying to accomplish by removing the hot break? Do you have a problem in your beer?

I generally run my wort through a wire mesh screen to remove most hop pellet material. I get a little break out along with the hop material, but most goes through. If you used a fine enough screen to capture break, you'd plug it up in short order. Its not worth it, there are other ways of avoiding break if you think it is something you need to do.

I was having problems using either a T-Bazooka Screen or a Hop Stopper screen in my kettle, from clogging due to hop pellets + break material, and from leaving an excess of wort behind in the kettle. I took the Hop Stopper out and recently have been using either a suspended paint strainer hop sack in the boil to hold the pellets, and/or passing the beer thru a strainer enroute to the fermenter buckets, and I've been emptying my keg kettle this way, meaning getting all the liquid. The amount of break material left in the strainer depends on the beer - for dark beers all the break material makes it into the fermenters. It's been a few brew sessions since I tried straining out break material during the boil, but I've used this approach as well.

In a NB Forum thread I was reminded recently that it is generally accepted that it is best to leave the break material behind as discussed in: http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue1.4/barchet.htmlI am considering adding a piece of copper tubing that collects the wort from the inside bottom edge of the kettle, after whirlpooling to concentrate the break and hops in the center, like lots of people do, but I'm trying to be as efficient as I can in terms of leaving as little of liquid in the kettle as is possible when determining my method for emptying the kettle.

I've also read from some experienced brewers that they don't think break material in the fermenter is a significant issue. Personally, my beer remains high quality, but I want it to be the best I can make it!